Just happy to take the 4 points….
I love how various numbers hold such significance to sports fans.
When I was a kid, 365 = G. Sobers (n.o.) which had usurped the 364 of Len Hutton.Cricket and Aussie Rules both cherish the “ton” – either for runs scored or goals kicked.
150 became a Holy Grail as Peter Hudson hunted down and ultimately equalled Bob Pratt’s season total of goals.There are plenty of examples to share:-
180 darts
147 snooker
300 ten pin bowls
Grand Slam, Triple Crown….it’s a numbers game!
any others?
When I was younger the century/ton had a special significance most Saturdays. Trying to exceed it on the cricket field – but never managed the feat.
Now its the same number on the golf course and I can exceed it with ease most of the time. Scoring less than a hundred is an entirely different matter these days.
In my now largely forgotten punting days I recollect that a short half head (your way) was the magic number.
“Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pound ought and six, result misery.”
Charles Dickens – “David Copperfield”
Isn’t 10 runs ahead the mercy rule in baseball? I remember playing a Veterans hockey match one Winter’s Tuesday night for the University Redmen here in Brisbane. The opposition banged in their 10th goal mid-way through the second half. I called for the mercy rule to be applied. They thought I was joking.
Peter,
sub 100 is the hacker’s hope in golf.
59 is the magic number.
The other magic number in suburban and country cricket was the ‘name in the paper’ number. The Adelaide Sunday Mail used to have brief local cricket summaries, and if you got over 50 or took a fivefer you got your name in the paper. From memory the country weeklies had an even lower threshold back in the day – maybe 30 got you a mention.
I recall having a rotten hangover on a stinking hot day, and deciding that as I couldn’t stand up for long everything was going to be back foot pulled over mid wicket. In a cruel twist everything came out of the middle and I was stuck out there for nearly an hour, before treading on my wicket for 49.
When I came off someone said “bad luck – one more and you’d have got your name in the Sunday paper.” I said “bad luck be buggered, I’ve been trying to get out for the last hour.”
haha…we have already gone “off topic” (as us teachers are prone to say) – so why not reminisce on the shiteful Sunday Mail. We subscribed to the country edition as it had the more comprehensive results collation of SA races and trots!
Here’s a number – the Number 1 Sunday paper in SA!
As you should remember Crio, you only took “the 2 points” for a win in SA.
I used to love getting the Sunday Mail, so much so that my parents ended up getting two copies, one for them, one for me.
The sporting minutiae such as :
Local club Baseball results (all the way down to U/13)
Little Aths results (gee that Lisa O’Dea from Gawler looks promising)
District Cricket scores (Uni have some bloke called David David, I wonder what his nickname would be ? “Squared” as it turned out)
Adelaide Turf scores (do ETSA really have a cricket team, and what is a Rechabite ?)
How many winners did Ross Sugars get last night ? Or was it the Webster’s turn ?
The SANFL Thirds and Colts scores and ladders (will Spog Wyley get the ton ?)
(Wasn’t really interested in the Ammos at that stage)
Electric Light cricket scores (now there is a topic)
Another topic for another time….played the famous Electric Light Cricket for a while.
1: would be the magic number for most in golf. Getting 100 or more is easy, getting 59 is impossible (for most) but 1 is potentially achievable if you hit the green and get lucky.
10: In cricket is pretty good. My brother got 10 for 10 in a school game around 40 years ago. The surprise wasn’t so much the 10 wickets but that fact that he managed to deliver 10 that could get a wicket i.e within reach of either the bat or the stumps. It actually got reported in the No.1 Sunday paper.
8: would be a perfect score on an end at bowls for a foursome ( we got a 7 last week at night owls) and is also a realistic possibility for beers during the course of the game.
Magic number for me is any that leads to a winning score.
However, the following do have special significance:
49-0 – Rocky Marciano
20 – Iron Mike, youngest heavyweight champ
41.81 – Mark Waugh’s Test average
20.98 – Joel Garner’s Test average
18 – Wayne Carey
35 – John Longmire
21 – my best cricket score
24 – total number of runs scored from 10 games when I was 16, which was one less than the number of wickets I took from those 10 games
2-5 – not my best bowling, but 2-5 from eight overs isn’t too bad
1975-1977-1996-1999 – North Melbourne’s premierships
27 – most number of goals I kicked in a season while playing centre, ruck rover, centre half back, full back and half forward
2 – number of ‘best utility’ awards I won in footy
100 – the percentage my ability seems to grow when I discuss my ‘career’ in senior footy and cricket with my mates…
So where do we begin…..
0: Wins as captain of a footy team
1: Matches that I posed as a girl for in Mixed Indoor Cricket (they bowled to me as though I was a guy though). Also the number of AFL Grand Finals attended, and number of marathons started and finished.
2: Half-Marathons I have completed, also visits to Football Park in Adelaide and Subiaco Oval in Perth…and number of reserves premierships I have watched Footscray in on TV (missed 1988, but saw 1994 and 1998)…..AND number of high school cross-country teams I made…..and points I scored in my sole losing basketball losing GF
3: Number of appearances in losing FOOTY Grand Final teams (add a single GF for basketball for the overall picture), also appearances in senior team last year! Also the position in the batting order for the last competitive game of cricket I played, ironically enough in 3rd grade in 2006/2007….and number of 50 over ODI’s I have ever attended
4: Legs of the Quaddie that I have NEVER managed to pick (got 3 legs on Derby Day once), and number of marathons I plan to run next year.
5: The distance in kilometres of my first fun run (Bridge2Brisbane 2012, did the full 10km the next year)…also number of months my first retirement from footy lasted.
6: The number I wore for Capricornia Under 16’s in 2000, also the number of years I have been a member of the Dogs as of next year
7: Years I have umpired Under 13/15 matches
8: The number of catches I took in the Under 12’s in 1994/95, most of them in the slips. Also my footy number in 2001.
9: Number of Cities that I have played either a practice or competitive AFL game in (Airlie Beach, Mackay, Rockhampton, Yeppoon, Gladstone, Tannum Sands, Emerald, Bundaberg, Maryborough [Qld])
11: Size of my footy boots, and the number of Boxing Day tests I will have attended at least one day of when this year’s test comes around….
12: The number of venues I have watched an AFL match at (Gabba, Carrara, SCG, Olympic Stadium, MCG, Docklands, Princes Park, Western Oval, Football Park, Subiaco, Marrara, Manuka….have watched cricket at the WACA and Adelaide Oval and local footy at Windy Hill)
14: Coaches I recall playing under
15: My First footy number, Under 17’s 1999
16: The number of current AFL clubs I have managed to watch at some stage in my life (North Melbourne and GWS to complete the set, and GWS will be next year)
19: Number of games I was captain of footy team
26: Most runs I conceded in an over of Backyard (read Back Paddock) Cricket
27: The number I wear now, have worn since 2008. Also the number associated with my Twitter handle!
33: My second footy number, Under 16’s 2000 (they changed the year groups)
49: The jumper I wore in that year’s unsuccessful GF tilt (we were given the Reserves Jumpers that day rather than our own jumpers!)
2008: Year I was permanent reserves captain
47:29: Personal best 10km time
50: Footy number I wore from 2002-2007
57:26: Personal best 12km time
63: The number my old man wore in the 1995 premiership side
1:50:18: Personal best time for Half Marathon
4:18:3: Personal best time for Marathon
130 The most famous number in world sport being , Bob Neils Gurnsey number at the
Worlds Greatest FC in , Adelaide Uni FC chockas duffle coat and shirts etc with the number on are spotted all around the world
123 My Gurnsey number
7 Norwood Premierships in my lifetime still spewing that I got made to go on a school camp and missed being at the game in , 78
4 Premierships played in , 2 each in footy and cricket
3 Losing Gfs , 2 as a coach in footy and , 1 as a player in cricket shit house memories
2 Crows Premierships lucky enough to be at the , G on both occasions
1 Hockey Prem as a kid a great memory
42 .14 My best time for the city to the bay , 12 k fun run in , SA many moons ago
2 for 22.
130 – most revered number at AUFC
69 – least revered (at least when I wore it, and it was a bugger to sew on)
54 – my Little Athletics number for the Red Devils, Shepparton, c1970
33 – Max Rooke’s jumper number
2 – number of the Hot Dot golf ball I scored a hole in one with, October 1975 (I still have it)
138 – length of the hole
9 – hole number at Oakey Golf Club
15 Once had Field Field 15 15 in a successful quaddie.
9 in the last (generally) – a rule forged in the early days of the Gabba dogs – “reserve in the last”
9 – darts for a perfect 501 finish
Funny which numbers stay with you:
83 – Cricket High Score
53.5 – U12/1s batting average (still dining out on that one 14 years later)
24 – Most runs scored in an over (5 4s and a 6)
10/34 – Best Match Figures
0 – Amount of votes I got from the umpire for 10/34
1 – senior cricket premierships
334* – Australia’s true top test score (Hayden against Zimbabwe doesnt count)
700 – the greatest day at the G. Shane Warne.
911 – golf membership number
9 – golf handicap number that continues to elude me
1 – hole in ones in the family. 0 from Dad and myself, 1 from Grandma with a 3 wood
Great one from my mate heppa:
45 – Cricket High Score (4 times over)
24-magic number to get a cup runner
10,000-the number of dollars Oliver had on his one and only bet…….I will not let it go Crio!
194 very large and missing??: Bill Vlahos
5 very large: the amount Bill didn’t actually pay for Billy
3 as in BC (Bloody crook) Bill again
0 – number of centuries scored in competitive cricket.
10.04 – bowling average to win the C grade competition averages in 96/97.
1 – number of blokes I hit in the guts with a misdirected drive from the 2nd tee at Royal and Ancient Ocean Grove.
1 – number of times I’ve been punched square in the face on a footy field. On a ground in Traralgon.
Sorry ‘Book, didn’t see your Bob post, nothing worse than copying someone else’s good work.
6 – goals against Adelaide Lutheran (P.B.)
112 – games played AUFC
1 – decent games played AUFC
1 – home run ever for CDBC
527 – number of times I ground out weakly to short stop
20 – Wilbur Wilson
7 – the number on the Centrals lace-up guernsey that was given to me in 1968
1 – number of finals I’ve seen Centrals win
923 – number of junior netball games I’ve watched
0 – number of junior netball games I’ve understood the rules of
Swish I remember you playing v well when doubling up re , Hancocks half hour after playing scum and asking me what position you want me to start book ? Centre swish and we won our , 1st game in , 14 weeks and celebrated that night like we had won the flag I reckon it was , 85
178no batting thru the innings and a pair in the same season cricket what a great leveller
8 for 56 BB
Probably should have mentioned a significant footy number for me:
11 – The number of goals Billy Brownless kicked at the first AFL game I ever attended, thanks for dragging me along J.T. Harms (Go the Cats)
The number “9” for the number of “heads” I tossed in succession in a “Two Up” school at the Flinders Hotel (SA) after we had been to the Balaclava Cup in the 70’s. I so wanted to lose after the first 6 tosses as I feared for my personal health and safety in getting out of that place in one piece ….there were some nasty people in that game as I was later informed.
Plus the number 50 that’s what I started with….you do the math…Nice after leaving the track broke !!!